Question

Consider the following production process. The process consists of 36 steps and operates at a cycle time of 0.58 min/unit. Their most error prone operation is step 6. Units are inspected at the end of the process. If there are 232 units of inventory between step 6 and the end of the process, roughly equally distributed across the remainder of the process, what is the information turnaround time for a defect made at step 6 (in minutes)? (report your answer to 2 decimal places)

Answer 1

The information turnaround time for a defect made at step 6 is approximately 134.64 minutes.

Step-by-step explanation:

The information turnaround time for a defect made at step 6 can be calculated as the total time it takes for the defect to be discovered and fixed.

Since there are 232 units of inventory between step 6 and the end of the process, and these units are roughly equally distributed across the remainder of the process, we can assume that there are 232/36 = 6.44 units between each step. This means that on average, it will take 6.44*0.58 = 3.74 minutes for a unit to pass through each step.

Therefore, it would take approximately 3.74*6 = 22.44 minutes for a defect made at step 6 to reach the end of the process. However, we also need to consider the time it takes to fix the defect.

Depending on the nature of the defect and the resources available, this time can vary.

Once the defect is fixed, the unit will continue through the remaining steps which will take another 3.74*30 = 112.2 minutes.

Therefore, the total information turnaround time for a defect made at step 6 would be approximately 22.44 + 112.2 = 134.64 minutes.